The storm raged outside the window; wind blew so hard that tree branches had snapped, severing phone lines and electrical wires as they went. Lightning had struck and ignited several farmers fields, and the never-ending rain had flooded most of the lowlands.
I sat by the blazing log burner, with Biscuit and Flower curled up next to me, wrapped in the thickest blanket I owned, trying to find anything that could kill the monster beneath my skin.
Mathias and I been working by candlelight for three days and still... nothing.
"Nina, you should get some sleep. You've been looking at the same page of text for twelve hours." Mathias took the ancient book from my stiff, aching hands. He was right, I'd read Remus's personal confession to being a vampire several times.
"What if we don't find anything? What if I have to spend the rest of eternity killing him? I can't do that Mathias, I can't." I looked him dead in his bloodshot eyes, fear churning my stomach.
"Sleep, Nina. We'll figure this out." His smile was wry and somewhat forced, as he took the cushions from the sofa, and put them on the floor beside the hearth. Despite its forced nature, Mathias's smile made me smile. There would be no arguing with him on this one, and I was incredibly tired. I moved my numb butt from the stone hearth, on to the makeshift bed, and drifted swiftly into sleep.
But sleep did not bring peace.
I dreamt of the night I had killed Rogan, and the night I had given birth. I dreamt of Felix and Roan, of Althena.
I dreamt of my father; he hadn't changed but he was smiling, something I had seldom seen him do when he was alive.
"The Greek witch knew." That was all he said before turning away. He vanished and I was alone, standing in the ruins of an Ancient Greek amphitheatre.
Again, I heard my father say those four words, but he was gone.
I woke with a jolt, rising suddenly to my feet, wide awake, almost as though I'd never slept to begin with.
Since the beginning of time itself, Mathias had been charged with harvesting the souls of the dead. Over hundreds of thousands of years, he had collected 'souvenirs' from the people he carried from all eras. Despite having given up his wings and his immortality, he had kept all of those 'souvenirs'.
"Mathias! I have a lead!"
Mathias is turned out had slept very well... until I woke him up. I needn't have bothered.
Mathias couldn't read Greek; lucky for me, I could. In all his years, Mathias have never found it necessary to learn Greek or Latin, so it took me nearly two hours to sort the pile of browning paper into two. All the while my father's words haunted me; "the Greek witch knew."
It was obvious he was trying to help, but I had come across seven different Greek witches, none of which helped in the slightest.
"Maybe it wasn't a witch that documented it. Just look through it all and see if any one f the witches names come up." Mathias suggested as he filled the old-style kettle and set it atop the log burner to boil.
By the time the kettle had boiled, I found it.
"Mat?" I glanced over, but Mathias had somehow nodded back off, his head resting back on the cushion-less sofa. I raised my voice. "Mathias!" His head shot up, his eyes wide.
"I'm awake." Barely, by the looks of him.
"I found it." I stood up and made my way over to the sofa. I sat next to him on the sofa and crossed my legs, holding the parchment so that we could both see it.
